My experience of reading Harry Potter

Back in school my friends would go on and on about Harry Potter. Some of them had even gone to the length of re-reading the series several times. The fanaticism was so great that one of them began to think that Harry Potter is the only good set of books that can be read. She stopped reading anything else, to read and re-read this tale of a wizard.

With so many fans around, going on and on about how remarkable the reading experience is, I should have eventually become a part of the fan club, owing to the impressionable minds that school kids have. But when I look back, I feel amazed at my resolution never to read this very dark seeming tale.

To my surprise, in no time at all the books began to be adapted into movies, which I could have easily watched if for nothing else than to simply dig up some entertainment. But despite the growing number of fans, and the natter about how nothing of the excellence of Harry Potter had ever been written or made, I didn’t budge an inch.

This firmness to not indulge in the current day cult was never an attempt to walk not with it but aside of the crowd. If they liked it, it must have something, but the urge to explore the interiors of the wizarding world never even flew past me, and I always brushed aside the idea of ever touching it as mere tomfoolery. It was simply because I never like thrillers.

It was only until college, that another fan with a tattoo of the deathly hallows (that crazy a fan), pushed me to try reading it at least. I still did not budge.

And one fine day, I woke up surprised at a change of heart. All of a sudden, I wanted to read Harry Potter. Not just try reading it, but finish the entire series, and then watch each of the films. What instigated the feeling, even I do not know, but ever since I picked up Harry Potter, I haven’t been able to put it down.

If somebody as uninterested as I was, can become a complete fan, then there’s got to be something truly great about it. Here are a few things that caught my attention.

Page Turner

Each of the Harry Potter books is a complete page turner. Once you begin reading, there’s no point that you want to put it down, until you reach the very end. The stories move at such a fine pace, with crucial details unfolding at exactly the right time, that the books can be given an award for being engaging.

2. Mysterious

From the absolutely dynamic world of magic that takes you in by surprise and awe with every magical entity you’re introduced to, to the astonishing twists waiting at every nook and corner, these books are a storehouse of mystery. Mysteries so well weaved that it leaves no room for presumptions and predictions, making the entire experience of reading a complete joyride.

3. Innovative

Authors the world over, and across ages have been known to create utterly different worlds out of their imagination. That’s what makes most fiction awe inspiring. Like these authors, J.K. Rowling creates a world of wizards absolutely different from the real, yet so close to it that one can instantly connect to it. What makes this work of art stand out is how she has added detailing to this imaginative world, working on nuances throughout. From the invisibility cloak to Harry’s Nimbus 2000, each aspect of the wizard world is truly overwhelming, my personal favourite being people in photographs moving in and out as they like.

Makes you happy.

Mystery novels throughout the globe, in all languages known, are famous for keeping the reader hooked owing to their unpredictable nature. While these novels give you a sense of thrill as to what is going to come next, Harry Potter is one book the reading of which makes you happy. Every time you pick up the book, you know you’ll dive straight into another world and come out with a smile.

Gives you life lessons.

As soon as a relative compared Harry Potter to detective fiction, with a friend calling it useless, I was taken aback. It was then that I contemplated my experience of reading it beyond the mystery and the innovation, soon realizing how in the garb of fun for the reader the books provide some of the most essential life lessons. While some of these come straight from Dumbledore, some have to be made sense of within the action of the story.

If you’ve already read them, you’re sure to appreciate them at some level. And if you haven’t, there’s no better time to start than right now.